“All right, then, darling, that’s what we’ll do.”
Sandy grinned, stretching the small scar that ran from her bottom lip to her chin. Permanently scarred by a man who was supposed to protect her. Fury boiled in Olivia’s gut. She should have left sooner. She should have walked out the first time he hit her. But she’d let her fear rule her. Only when he went after Sandy could she find the guts to leave.
Olivia followed her daughter back to their booth and thought about their room at the shelter. It wasn’t a bad place. It just wasn’t home. But it was safe. From her window, if she stood just right, she could look out and see the gates. The locked gates. With the security guard stationed in the small house. Evan Pritchard. Probably in his early sixties, but he was lean and still had a full head of hair without a speck of gray in it. Secretly she wondered if he colored it.
“Why are you smiling?” Laura asked, finally looking up from her plate.
“I was just thinking how blessed we are.”
Laura raised a brow. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Think about it. We have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, and friends to hang out with.” She took a deep breath. “And we’re safe.” Her children so needed to feel safe.
Laura snorted. “We’ll never be safe as long as that monster is walking the earth.” Sandy whimpered and Laura immediately lost her attitude. “Except maybe at the shelter.” She pretended to think about it. “Yeah, I think there, we’re safe. Don’t you, Sandy?”
“I-I don’t know. Are we?”
Laura reached over to hug her baby sister. Olivia’s throat tightened, but she didn’t say anything.
“Yes. We are.” Laura said it with such firm conviction that Olivia almost believed her too.
Sandy visibly relaxed. “Good. I like it there. And I like Mr. Pritchard. He’s nice.”
The fact that her child could trust another man after what her own father had done to her spoke volumes. And gave Olivia hope.
They would be all right.
She picked up the big piece of cake she’d cut from the dessert tray and set it in front of Sandy. She’d placed a candle in the shape of a 9 at the center. Then she reached into her small purse and pulled out the lighter she’d splurged on for just this occasion. She lit the candle and started singing, “Happy Birthday to you—”
“—Happy birthday to you,” joined a voice to her left. The waitress.
“Happy birthday, dear Sandy,” Laura sang loud.
“Happy birthday, to you,” the patrons at nearby tables joined in.
Sandy beamed, then in a move that was completely out of character with her more reserved personality, climbed out of the booth, and gave everyone a curtsy. After the clapping died down, Sandy returned to her seat and dug into her cake.
Olivia closed her eyes for a brief moment of thankfulness. For a brief snippet of time, all was right in her child’s world, and while Olivia didn’t have the money to spend on a present, she didn’t mind digging a little deeper into her pocket for this dinner. They had to eat anyway and this was Sandy’s favorite place.
She glanced toward the door and felt her heart freeze. “Silas,” she whispered.
Sandy’s fork clattered to the floor. Laura simply lifted her head and glared. But Olivia caught the fine tremor that went through the girl’s body. She slid out of the booth and walked toward the man she’d once loved. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s my daughter’s birthday,” he said. “I took a chance you’d bring her here.” He pulled a box from his jacket pocket. “I brought her a present.”
Not wanting to make a scene, she kept a smile on her face, but whispered through gritted teeth, “Go away.”
His eyes narrowed and he stepped toward her. “Make me,” he taunted.
Olivia felt sick. Once again Silas had managed to ruin a lovely moment. He brushed past her and stepped over to the booth. Laura had switched places with Sandy and put the girl between the wall and herself. The protective gesture was nearly Olivia’s undoing. “Silas, please—”
“Please what, Olivia? Please let me come home? Please forgive me for breaking up the family? Please forgive me for running off and not even telling you where I’m staying? Please, what?”
Olivia’s gaze darted from one table to the next. Even though Silas kept his voice low, they were drawing attention. She sat in the booth and forced a smile for the girls. “Sandy, Daddy’s brought you a gift.”
Sandy ducked her head and began to cry, then hiccup and wheeze.
Olivia couldn’t stand it, couldn’t play this game. She fished Sandy’s inhaler from her purse and handed it to Laura, who turned her back on her father and helped her sister. Then Olivia stood and faced down her husband. Fear twisted every nerve she had into double knots. “Just leave us alone.”
In the booth next to them, a man stood. Olivia sucked in her breath at the sight of his badge clipped to his belt. And the gun on his right hip. “Is there a problem?”
Silas cleared his throat. “Not at all. Just delivering a little birthday gift to my daughter.”
“Mighty good thing to do.”
“I thought so.” He shot Olivia a smirk.
“Now you’ve done it,” the officer said. “The door’s behind you. Why don’t you go find it?”
Silas’s smirk disappeared. “What’s it to you?”
“Mister, I’ve worked more domestic violence cases in my career than you’ll ever be able to read about and I have a special dislike for people like you. I’m guessing you’re an abuser of women and little kids.” He stepped forward and pointed a finger about a centimeter from Silas’s nose, and Olivia gasped as her husband’s face darkened. But that didn’t stop the officer. “Now, you get away from them before I arrest you.”
“For what?” Silas argued.
“Disturbing my meal.” He looked him up and down. “And for having a bad attitude. Want me to go on?”
Silas glared, his nostrils flared, and Olivia couldn’t drag her eyes away from the two men.
Silas gritted, “Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”
The officer smirked. “I don’t care if you’re the president of the United States. No one gets away with bullying a woman and her kids on my watch. Now scram.”
Silas curled his fingers into a fist and Olivia stepped back, the back of her knees hitting the booth.
“Do it,” the officer said, eyes narrow, muscles bunched.
Silas dropped his arm, then lifted it to point a finger at Olivia. “I’ll deal with you later.”
He placed the box on the table without another word, turned, and left the restaurant. Olivia swallowed hard and tried to control the shakes that set in with the ebb of her adrenaline.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The officer stepped closer. “I’m Detective Johns. From the conversation before I interrupted, I gather that you’ve left him.”
“Yes.”
“Good move. If I thought you were going home to him, I wouldn’t have interfered.”
She shook her head. “No. Other than a court date, I’m done with him. Only now, I’m afraid he’s going to follow me—” She sighed and shook her head. “Never mind. Thank you, though.”
“He won’t follow you. Finish your meal, enjoy yourselves. My partner and I will escort you wherever you’re staying. We’ll make sure you’re not followed.”
The lump in her throat made it almost impossible to speak, but she managed a grateful nod.
The girls hadn’t said a word and didn’t eat another bite. Olivia choked down another spoonful of her melting ice cream, then gave up. She couldn’t force another bite down, not even for her girls.
Ten minutes later, when they walked away from the table, Olivia didn’t bother to point out to Sandy the gift her father gave her. She had a feeling Sandy knew exactly what she was doing when she left it sitting on the table.
25
“I got ’em.”
Raimondi drew in a deep breath
at Corbin’s announcement. “Where are they?”
“They’re on the move again. I’m not sure what happened to those lost hours, but we just picked up a call to Olivia Todd from a pay phone near the hospital in Charleston, South Carolina.”
Raimondi chuckled. “I figured that’s where they would go after you finished with the sister. So you didn’t kill her?”
“No. I decided she might be worth more to us alive than dead.”
Raimondi thought about that as he filled the water bowls in his pets’ cages. “That was only when we didn’t know where Summer and David were. Now we know. Go ahead and kill her.” A pause on the other end of the line made him frown. “Hayes? You have a problem with that?”
“I’ll kill her, that’s no problem. I’m working on a plan to get all three of them at the same time.”
“Do not kill David before we have the laptop in our possession.”
“I won’t.”
“His sister-in-law is another matter. You can get rid of her.”
“All in good time. Will you let me handle this? I have the sister-in-law in my sights. I have plans for her, plans that will end with her dead, but first, I want to see if she has any more uses.”
“Like what?”
“Bait.”
Raimondi heard the sly pleasure in Hayes’s voice and wondered what the man had in mind for the woman. Then he decided he didn’t care as long as she wound up dead.
“What about Summer?” Hayes asked.
Raimondi dropped the frozen rat into the boa’s cage. “Ah yes, the beautiful and spunky Summer. Let’s keep her alive for the moment. Bring them to me the moment you have them.”
“Yes sir.”
“Because I think I might enjoy having them as guests for a while.” He turned and looked at the black door to his right. “Yes, I’d like to show them my hospitality. I’ve been a bit bored lately with all of the things going wrong. I think they might provide a bit of entertainment if you brought them to me.”
Hayes gave a low chuckle. “You’re a sick man, Raimondi.”
“Sick? No. David just needs to get what’s coming to him.” He sighed. A low mournful sound. “What’s sick is the fact that it’s just so hard to find good help these days. Just when you think you can trust someone, they turn on you. As quick as a snake.”
David blinked as the Sunday morning sun rose. He nudged Summer. “Wake up, hon. Time to get this started.” He’d parked at the emergency entrance to the hospital where security was nearby. If anything happened during the night, at least help was close. He’d decided against a hotel room and Summer had agreed. She’d slept for six hours uninterrupted while he’d dozed in patches. But that had been his life for so long, he was used to it. Sleeping with one eye open had taken on a whole new meaning when he’d joined the Army.
He shifted and his back protested along with his healing ribs.
She groaned and rubbed a hand down her face as she pulled her earbuds down and tucked her iPod in her purse.
He smiled. “I’m glad some things haven’t changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“You falling asleep to your favorite music.”
“Oh. Yeah.” She gave him a faint smile. “I always used to do that as a teen. Especially when I was living with my dad. I suppose it’s my way of escaping.”
“Praise and worship is a good escape.”
She shrugged. “It’s not so much an escape now as much as it’s just another way to hear from God. A way of listening to what he has to say through the words of the song.” She pulled in a deep breath. “Is it time?”
“Yeah. You ready for this?”
She took a deep breath. “I just pray we’re wrong. I don’t want any of them to be in on betraying us. The thought of one of them being a part of Raimondi’s mob just …” She shivered.
“I know. I’ve gotten to know Chase and Adam pretty well. I think they’re stand-up guys.”
She stared at him. “Anyone can appear as a stand-up guy with enough motivation.”
He winced and was grateful when she didn’t dwell on that topic.
“What about Mike?”
“Mike does his job. He’s good at it and he doesn’t let anything distract him. I would call him a friend in the loosest sense of the word.”
“You think he’d take a bribe?”
David shook his head. “I have no way of knowing that.” His lips tightened and he looked at the entrance to the hospital. “Ready?”
She nodded. “Ready.”
26
Summer and David made their way into the hospital. As the revolving door swooshed around, Adam and Chase stepped into the lobby area to greet them.
“Watching for us, huh?” David asked.
Chase frowned at him. “Yeah. You’re not making this job any easier.”
David lifted a brow. “Sorry about that. When the bad guys keep showing up, it makes a man wonder.”
Adam rocked back on his heels. “You think we had something to do with that?”
David sighed. “It’s hard to know these days. I guess if we wind up dead, we’ll know.”
Chase glared. “I take exception to that.”
David almost smiled. The two men were truly wounded that he suspected them. Either that or they were excellent actors. It made him feel slightly better. “Where’s Mike?”
“Staying with Marlee,” Chase said.
“He got the short straw,” Adam muttered.
Summer lifted a brow. “How is she?”
“She’s doing better,” Chase said. He shot a snide look at David. “She doesn’t trust us either.”
“Don’t take it personally,” Summer said. “She doesn’t trust any man.”
“She’s borderline hysterical, demanding to see Summer and refusing to cooperate with anyone.” He sent Summer an apologetic look. “She’s not anything like you, is she?”
Summer shook her head. “No. She’s not.” She pulled in a deep breath. “Why don’t you take me to see her?”
“That works for me.”
Chase led the way. Summer followed with David at her side. Adam pulled up the rear.
One elevator ride later found them walking down the hallway toward her sister’s room. Mike stood outside talking with a uniformed officer. When he saw them coming, his eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. The way his nostrils flared, Summer figured he’d like to lambaste both her and David.
But he didn’t. He simply said, “Glad you’re still breathing.”
David nodded. “Figured I’d better get us away from Raimondi’s guys before they finally succeeded in getting to us.”
The mild-mannered prod had Mike’s nostrils flaring again. Adam made a choking sound behind her and Chase snorted. Mike turned to Summer. “You want to see if you can get her to cooperate? Otherwise we’re leaving her here.”
Summer didn’t bother arguing with the man. She brushed past him and into Marlee’s room. Summer gasped and Marlee opened her eyes. Upon seeing Summer, she burst into tears. Summer moved to her sister’s side and very carefully took her in her arms, not wanting to jostle her sister’s arm. “I’m so sorry, Marlee.” A cast encased her left arm, bruises on her forehead and cheek stood out.
Marlee sniffled. “They broke in my house when I was talking with you on the phone and they said they had to make sure you knew they were serious and they wanted some stupid laptop and—”
Summer placed a finger over Marlee’s lips. “Shh. It’s okay now. You’re going to come with us and everything’s going to be fine.” She prayed her words weren’t a lie.
“Where have you been? I tried to call but you wouldn’t answer your cell phone or your office phone. You’ve never not taken my calls and then you called and said you were in Charlotte and I just needed you to help me.” Summer listened as Marlee prattled on. Summer had turned twenty-nine on her last birthday. Nick was two years younger and Marlee was a mere baby at twenty-two. She’d graduated college last year with a degree in interi
or design and hadn’t settled on any kind of employment other than waitressing. Occasionally.
Summer sat back in the chair, aware David had entered the room and stood waiting. Mike, Chase, and Adam still remained outside. “You’ve been giving the marshals a hard time, I hear.”
“Yes. US Marshals? I don’t understand. What are you involved with? What is going on?” Marlee’s string of questions ended on a screech that made Summer wince.
She grabbed her shoulders. “Stop it.”
The order shocked her sister. She snapped her lips closed and stared.
Summer’s ears rang at the sudden silence and she blinked. Should have done that a long time ago. “There is a man who is after some evidence David has. That laptop.”
“David? Who’s David?”
Summer swallowed hard, her initial anger and shock over discovering her husband wasn’t who she thought he was bubbling back to the surface. She shoved it down. “Kyle is David.”
“I’m sorry. What? I don’t understand.”
Summer explained. At the end of her explanation, Marlee gaped, her gaze swiveling back and forth between Summer and David. “That’s insane.”
“Tell me about it,” Summer muttered. Then she lifted her chin. “So this means you’re in danger. Mom and Nick should be fine for now. Hopefully by the time they get on a plane to come home, this will all be over.”
“And we’ll all be alive to talk about it,” David said.
Marlee looked at David. “So you’ve lied about everything? All this time?”
Summer squeezed her sister’s hand. “Don’t.”
Marlee gaped at Summer. “And you’re okay with this?”
“No, of course not,” Summer snapped. She’d had enough. Her nerves were tight enough without having to explain her crazy emotions to her sister when she wasn’t sure she understood them herself. “I’m still in the shocked, processing stage. But now that I know the whole truth, I’m dealing with it. For the moment, let’s just get out of here and get someplace safe.”
Marlee glanced at the door. “And you trust those guys out there?”
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